BlackBerry Spent $1.3 Billion in R&D for FY2013

In order for a company to keep up with its competition and stay innovative, they must have an active research and development team. Research Infosource recently released it’s report that ranks the top 100 Canadian companies in R&D expenditures from fiscal year 2013.

BlackBerry garnered the second position, behind Bombardier. Beating companies like IBM Canada, Rogers, Imperial Oil, and GM Canada combined, BlackBerry spent $1,324,470,000 on R&D. This amounted for 19% of the company’s earned revenue in FY2013. The heavy R&D may have greatly helped in the successful development of the BlackBerry Passport‘s unique design and hardware feature set.

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The amount may seem high, but not when placed against BlackBerry’s competitors. For example, Apple spent $4.5 billion USD on R&D in 2013, while Microsoft spent an incredible $10 billion USD. Although, it is expected as these companies have a much broader focus than only smartphones and software services, like BlackBerry.